Late at night.
Stark Industries Sector Sixteen, underground level.
A S.H.I.E.L.D. strike team led by Agent Phil Coulson swept into Obadiah Stane's hidden R&D lab, hunting for stolen Iron Man schematics.
They had barely fanned out when two blinding white beams cut through the darkness.
A low hydraulic growl followed. From the shadows rose a hulking steel monster, more than three meters tall, its sheer mass radiating menace.
"Open fire!"
Coulson's order was instant. Muzzles flashed, bullets screaming toward the giant.
The barrage hammered the armor in a storm of sparks and ricochets. The rounds that could shred a human body only scratched pale scars across its plating before bouncing harmlessly away.
"Move!"
Stane's voice boomed through external speakers, distorted and metallic.
Before the echo died, the Iron Monger charged. One agent never had a chance. The impact launched him like a doll, spine cracking against concrete as he slid down the wall, motionless.
The rest scattered for cover.
Lucky for them, Stane had bigger prey.
The Iron Monger smashed straight through the factory wall and stomped onto the highway.
Drivers gawked at the sudden titan in their headlights.
Is that a robot? A new Stark toy?
Only when the armor casually backhanded a fully loaded semi did the screaming start.
Horns blared, tires screeched, chaos swallowed the road.
"STANE!"
A furious roar split the night.
A red-gold streak screamed down from the sky, thrusters howling, and slammed into the Iron Monger with the force of a meteor.
BOOM!!
The collision rang like a church bell made of steel. Both suits tumbled across the asphalt in a tangle of limbs and sparks, carving twin furrows before grinding to a halt.
The Iron Monger recovered first, rising with ominous slowness. Its crimson eyes fixed on the red-gold suit.
"Well, Tony? Like my upgrade?" Stane's voice dripped mockery through the speakers.
"Shut your bald mouth!"
Tony's blood boiled.
One look was enough. That thing was his Mark I—blown up, scaled up, and uglier. Even the arc reactor glowing in its chest was the exact one ripped out of him in that cave.
Getting publicly cuckolded by your own tech? New low.
"You're a genius, Tony," Stane sneered, "but genius doesn't mean ownership."
His right arm rose. The six-barreled rotary cannon on the forearm spun up with a murderous whine.
BRRRRRRT—!
A wall of lead forced Tony into frantic backpedaling.
He gritted his teeth, tanked the storm, and slapped two repulsor blasts into the Iron Monger's chest. The barrage stuttered and died.
"Sir, power at 18%," JARVIS warned calmly.
"I heard!"
Cold dread settled in Tony's gut. The old reactor was running on fumes. Mark III was sleek, efficient, beautiful—but it still needed juice. At this rate he'd be a very expensive statue in less than a minute.
VROOOOM—!
The Iron Monger charged again, impossibly fast for something that size.
Tony barely crossed his arms before the freight-train impact sent him airborne.
He crashed twenty meters down the road, carving a shallow crater. Before he could stand, a massive metal foot pinned him to the ground.
Stane loomed overhead, laughing. "Your toy's cute, Tony. Mine's just better."
"Like hell!"
Pinned beneath tons of stolen steel, Tony felt useless—utterly, humiliatingly useless.
The Iron Monger lifted its foot, seized the Mark III by the neck, and hurled it into a city bus like trash.
Metal screeched. Glass exploded.
Stane stomped closer, voice ice-cold. "I built this company with my own hands. No one—especially not you—gets to take it from me."
A shoulder panel flipped open. An anti-tank missile locked on with a hateful red dot.
Tony stared at the warhead and had the worst déjà vu of his life.
The missile ignited.
Just as the rocket streaked forward, a lone figure slid between Tony and certain death—wielding nothing but a plain kitchen frying pan like it was Excalibur.
CLANG!
The pan met the missile at perfect ninety degrees.
BOOM!!
The explosion blossomed mid-air, washing the street in fire and pressure.
When the smoke cleared, Daniel stood there, pan still in hand, clothes barely ruffled, eyebrows raised.
"You're seriously fighting a final boss without inviting me?"